Finland 1197

     In 2003 Finland issued a minisheet with five stamps featuring lighthouses on the coast of the Baltic Sea. From left to right they are the Bengtskår lighthouse on the southernmost inhabited island in Finland. It was built in 1906 and is the tallest lighthouse in Scandinavia at 52 meters. The "eye of Hanko" built on Russarö island in 1863. It is 21.4 meters high and made of stone. This lighthouse is on the coat of arms of Hanko. Rönnskär is the oldes preserved lighthouse in Finland dating from 1800. It is on the Porkkalanniemi, a penninsula in the Gulf of Finland. Harmaja Granaara is an island and a lighthouse outside Helsinki, south of the Soumenlinna sea fortress. It has been a lighthouse since 1883. Harmaja received the world's first directed and undirected raido beacon in 1936. The Söderskä lighthouse was built in 1862, 15 nautical miles from the center of Helsinki. It is 40 meters tall.
     The design of the minisheet has pictures of the five lighthouses with a map across the top of the sheet. At the top of each stamp are some vital statistics: the date it was built, the coordinates of its location and its height.
     Mark Honig called my attention to an error on the sheet. The coordinates given for the Russarö are 50° 46,0´N 22° 57,1´E, which is incorrect. The correct latitude is 59° 59,1´N.